(DailyAnswer.org) – The same week of the Democratic National Convention in August, the Biden-Harris administration launched its new program to fast-track citizenship for illegal immigrants who qualify in a plan Republican critics call a “mass amnesty.”
The “Keeping Families Together” plan will extend parole eligibility to at least 500,000 immigrants without citizenship who are spouses of citizens eligible for parole and about 50,000 children. Under the new process, illegal aliens can “be considered parole in place” and critics believe it’s rewarding people who shouldn’t be rewarded for breaking the law, no matter how many years have passed.
Center for Immigration Studies resident fellow in law and policy, Andrew Arthur, called the program a “massive amnesty” unauthorized by Congress. Arthur said the process would expand under a Harris-Walz administration, which could make it so that everyone in the US illegally “could eventually be eligible” for parole. To qualify, the spouses must undergo a background check, and must have lived in the US for 10 consecutive years and have no criminal history or indications of posing a “threat to public safety” or “national security.”
The program is an expansion of the idea set by the Obama administration in 2012 when they passed the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) that granted legal status to children of illegal immigrants who were attending university in the US. Children who are in the US illegally will qualify for parole if they are stepchildren of a US citizen and under 21 years old in June 2024 when the White House announced the executive action and also have a clean record. There is one caveat, though, allowing for illegal aliens with a criminal record to still qualify if meeting certain criteria.
Even illegal immigrants already being processed for removal can still qualify for parole under the new system, even after a “final unexecuted removal order” has been administered. Those cases will be allowed to submit additional documentation to prove they meet the new parole criteria.
While a Harris-Walz administration will expand these initiatives, Republicans are unifying around Trump to push back and strengthen the border again and putting the focus back on helping American citizens first.
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